New System Fears & Loud Bang inside my Head?

OriginofNine wrote:I tried to go to sleep, and took 5mg of melatonin, started to fall asleep, and heard this LOUD BANG! noise right as I was drifting off. It kind of sounded like a gun shot, only not quite, felt/heard between my ears, and the fact that my body's response in addition to the sort of wide awake (groggy especially because of the melatonin) heart racing response, was to give me a migraine style headache vs a tension headache that's felt in my shoulders, indicates to me that this really was an internal "sound" and not one from outside. Also I heard no sounds of other tenants in my apartment reacting to it like going to a window to investigate either. (Yeah the fact that I'm good at noticing all these details as part of my daily routine to figure out what's real should have told me something...)

Obviously I haven't been able to get back to sleep since then, although writing this out is helpful and I'm feeling myself settle a bit again.

I'd like to know if anyone else has experienced these kinds of noises internally. If anyone else's managers/protectors tried to hide everything/keep everything running without "me" (all of us) noticing, any tips on what to do with PTSD type experiences like this within a system, and how to get everyone on the same page when one part(s?) is willy nilly running around and quite happy to dig everything up, while other parts are like nooo, we have to maintain functionality. Although in part - SOME of that "trying to maintain functionality" is actually causing me to be sick and LOOSE function, which became clear a couple of weeks ago, which is probably why being aware of everything came next.

I'd like to learn to be kind to myself.

Thank you to anyone who reads this all the way through.

I get these bangs very frequently, and was referred for a spinal scan to see if it is caused by a trapped nerve. The result was inconclusive, but I have learned how to manage them.

The current working theory is that it is caused by high blood pressure, restricted blood flow, and a trapped nerve in my neck or upper back. I'm taking Statins and Ramipril to manage the first two, but these bangs still happen very frequently, and I have a good idea from how my body feels as to when and whether it will occur.

First you should definitely see your doctor to rule out any physical cause, but in the meantime (not instead of), here is how I learned to stop them happening, or at least not happen more than once a night.

Make sure your neck and upper back is relaxed before bed. I do this by turning my head to the far left, and slowly, gently, nodding it up and down as far as it will go. I then turn my head slightly to the right and do the nodding again - keep repeating until your head faces as far right as it can. This only takes about a minute in all. Give your neck a massage from top to bottom if it's still feeling tense.

If you sleep on your side, lay with your head, but not your neck, on the pillow. This prevents the blood vessels in your neck from being under pressure, I assume.

Try sleeping with your head tilted as far "down", or as far "up", as is comfortable.

Using a combination of all of these, I will either have one bang, and then find a position where it doesn't recur, or no bangs at all.

I'm not a doctor, so I can't stress strongly enough that this is how I manage my own occurrences, and that your situation may be caused by different things, and so, once again - see your doctor for advice. Don't ignore the problem, even if these steps help, as it may be caused by an underlying problems such as mine, which can be life-threatening if left untreated.

I hope that helps.

Snaga wrote:
Other Specified Dissociative Disorder- that's the new name- here in the forums we're stuck with older versions of the DSM so yeah, DDNOS it is. It replaced DDNOS in the current DSM.


With the new terminology, it's broken up into OSDD-A and OSDD-B, there's Type A and Type B- I would be type B, if I do have it- that would be personalities that are relatively distinct, but without the amnesia episodes associated with DID. The times I've experienced 'others' fronting, I've generally been aware of it. Like being the passenger in a car. I can see, just I ain't doing the driving.

I am still unsure which we are….in the earlier years there was no awareness of others or switches, other than for ones such as Bobby who were believed to have their ‘imaginary friends’…whether it was actually other alters they were able to communicate with I’m not sure. I don't have aceess to all Bobby’s memories.

Now though after many re-emerging over the last 8 years and learning about each other and learning to work together voluntarily we can work co-consciously, some do it better than others.

Right now there’s 3 of us seem the strongest team working best as one host..myself, Kitty and Jessy…there is always at least 2 of us up front simulataneously as sometimes Jessy goes to check on inside and spend time with others inside if Kitty and I have to do 'boring life stuff' (like checking our finances or housework!) Kitty can take the front she likes to cook but I feel I’m still present watching in the background….as you describe above for OSDD1B

However we also have other ‘versions of host’ that are less distinct and we have ones that can completely take over the front and when I 'come back’ I feel I was ‘inside’ and don’t know what they did whilst out…unless Jessy was out with them and fills me in.

There are no alters left who don’t know they are part of a system so none left that would be trumatised by finding this out suddenly so we don’t fit that part of the criteria anymore either. The one’s left all seem to find it comforting and have created our own little internal family…none are particularly interested in going through the diagnostic procedure now especially given the waiting lists in our country and state of mental health care…we have chosen to remain covert as far as ‘outside life’ is concerned